What is Monthly Review?
Monthly review is a periodic deep audit — typically 60–90 minutes — that examines aggregated journal metrics: expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, rule-break rate, and setup-level performance across a calendar month or ~20 trading sessions.
What monthly review includes
Monthly review synthesizes weekly notes into decisions: continue, pause, or resize each setup; update risk budget; refresh playbook rules. It is the right cadence for edge audit and correlation with macro months (budget, RBI cluster).
Indian market context
Indian markets have strong monthly expiry rhythm and periodic policy events. Compare your month to prior months with similar VIX regime — a bad month in high VIX may be acceptable if process scores stayed high.
End monthly review with written capital decisions: pause a tag, resize risk per trade, or refresh checklist items. Without documented decisions, the next month repeats the same leaks — especially on stock F&O books with uneven liquidity.
Worked example agenda
| Agenda item | Output |
|---|---|
| Setup scorecards | PF and expectancy per tag |
| Drawdown | Max DD vs risk budget |
| Rule breaks | Trend vs prior month |
| Decisions | Pause tag X; increase size on tag Y |
Common mistakes
- Monthly review only when profitable.
- No written decisions — same mistakes repeat next month.
- Blending expiry gambling with core strategy metrics.
- Ignoring brokerage and STT creep on high-frequency tags.
How to validate
- Validate Monthly Review with a written rule and at least 20 tagged examples.
- Ask whether the reading changed because of process or one outlier trade.
- Compare two independent time windows before adjusting position size.
- Document validation date in weekly review notes.
How to track in TradeLyser
- Mention Monthly Review in trade comments when it influenced the decision.
- Mirror the term in weekly review questions for consistency.
- Filter trades mentioning the concept during monthly analytics.
- Cross-link to related glossary terms in mentor notes.
Best practices
- Teach Monthly Review the same way to mentors and peers — shared vocabulary.
- Re-read this page after major rule changes to Monthly Review usage.
- Prefer one improvement per month over ten simultaneous tweaks.
- Link learn articles when Monthly Review needs deeper study.
Common pitfalls
- Using Monthly Review buzzwords without measurable journal tags.
- Copying another trader’s Monthly Review rule without sample size context.
- Skipping weekly review because the term feels “basic”.
- Letting social media redefine Monthly Review mid-quarter.
How to use this in TradeLyser
Export TradeLyser monthly report PDF and attach to monthly review note. Compare setup scorecards month-over-month in Strategy Board.
Reference guide
| Context | Value | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Sample size | Review tags with 20+ trades separately | Changing rules based on one week inside the month |
| Scope | Include costs, MTM stress days, margin events | Only charting equity curve without reading trade list |
Related terms
Daily review is a structured session-end ritual where a trader closes the trading day by logging final notes, grading execution, and comparing outcomes to the morning plan. It captures context while memory is fresh — before the next session overwrites details.
An edge audit is a structured review — typically monthly or quarterly — in which a trader examines the expectancy, win rate, and profit factor for each setup tag and strategy in their journal to confirm that a statistical edge is present, stable, or improving. It also identifies setups that have degraded and should be paused.
Expectancy answers whether your edge pays each time you repeat the setup. Positive expectancy means the system earns over many trades; negative expectancy means it bleeds even with a high win rate.
Maximum drawdown records the worst fall from a prior equity high to the subsequent low. It describes pain and capital required to stay in the game — not just the final P&L.
A strategy scorecard is a one-page summary of the core performance metrics for a specific trading strategy — including win rate, expectancy, profit factor, max drawdown, average R-multiple, and sample count. It enables side-by-side comparison of multiple strategies and quick identification of which deserve more capital allocation.
A weekly review is a dedicated 30–60 minute session at the end of each trading week during which a trader examines their journal entries, calculates key metrics, identifies rule breaks and emotional patterns, and documents lessons and adjustments for the following week.
By trader level
Level up — system optimisation
Already journaling? Use these metrics to measure your edge, manage risk, and evolve your system.
FAQ
Monthly vs edge audit?
Edge audit is the analytical core inside monthly review — expectancy and sample size per setup. Monthly review adds behavior, costs, and capital allocation decisions.
When in the month should I run it?
First trading day of the new month for the prior month — or last weekend — but keep the cadence fixed.
How many trades needed for monthly conclusions?
Per-setup conclusions need 20–30 trades minimum. Account-level monthly stats are directional with 40+ total closed trades.
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